In 1970s Poland, Jacek Karpiński created a computer which could conduct a million operations per second and was small enough to fit into a briefcase. At a time when computers were not only slower but also comparable in size to cupboards, this was a remarkable accomplishment. Unfortunately, the communist regime blocked the device from going into production.

The internet can be frustrating. With millions of links, you never know what stories are true. To be sure, you have to check several sources. Even then, you can’t be sure you have the real story. The following projects offer new perspectives on the world – bringing together stories, pictures and data to make us stop and appreciate the diversity of our experience.

The Digital Cultures Conference in Warsaw will address digital culture in a global context. From 25th to 27th September 2017, the Copernicus Science Centre will host numerous panels, debates, workshops, along with a rich programme of films, an exhibition, and an art intervention.

A new collaborative project taking inspiration from cult Polish inventor Adam Słodowy will be premiered at this year’s Copenhagen Makers, the annual fair which presents trends and innovation in technology.

A interactive wall map for kids? A virtual mirror that dresses you in folk costumes? The interactive solutions provider Playlabs specialises in creating innovative apps that are as much fun as they are educational.

Cleverly recreating the pleasant feel of a paper book, Arta Tech’s two new e-readers were distinguished this year with the prestigious Red Dot award for their design and innovativeness. Read on to find out how these readers may finally give e-book enthusiasts the experience they have been waiting for.

The long-awaited psychological and action video game Get Even by Polish studio The Farm 51 is set to premiere in May 2017. It’ll feature a dark plot where the hero undergoes a tech-backed treatment, an engine-rendered soundtrack recorded by musicians from the Brussels Philharmonic and atmospheric graphics based on 3D scanning.

In this overwhelming super-fast Age of Information, poetry can help us read between the lines of our overloaded lives. But what do we choose to read when access becomes so easy and selection becomes so tough? As we become less and less sure of what is good and true, in print and online, Marek Kazmierski helps us translate our way through the mystery.

Once just a tasty detail in the fantasy Witcher Saga by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, now, the Gwint card game has evolved, through the stage of a mini-game within the Sapkowski-inspired role-playing video game The Witcher 3, into a full-on game in its own right. Its online version is currently being tested by Polish game developer CD Projekt Red.

The authors of The Witcher came across a typical problem for local products released onto an international market. How does one go about references to local culture or history? Should it be explained to the foreign consumer? Or should the creators leave it as it is and not worry about it being understood or not? Or maybe it should be cut out altogether?

The Warsaw-based Thing Trunk studio is creating video games that reimagine classic titles from the 1990s for contemporary tastes. Convinced that games have lost much of their old charm, the team want to bring it back, going against modern commercial trends but using the latest advancements. The first title in the series, Book of Demons, is already available online.

A chair that connects with your smartphone and tells you how to sit properly, award-winning acoustic panels that let you create your own personalised comfort zone, and a touch-operated electric table. Just three modern Polish designs that will make your workspace more efficient and pleasant.

After inventing an alternative history 1920s world where diesel-powered war robots are part of the interwar period, Jakub Różalski became a world-famous graphic artist and co-created one of the hottest board games of the past year. Now he's working on a new project called Iron Harvest, a video game that builds yet another layer upon the 1920+ world he has created.

The multi-award-winning Witcher games have sold over twenty million copies over the last decade, with avid fans from outside Poland accounting for the majority. In an interview with Culture.pl, Marcin Blacha, Story Director at CD Projekt Red, explains how the lauded game studio tackles the enormous challenge of creating The Witcher’s immersive world.

Have at you, brigand! An unusual new game from Polish indie studio Vile Monarch is here to increase your vocabulary in cheeky ways. Using verbal elasticity and quaint humour, it’s an acid tongue emulator where ‘even the harshest insult is classy’.

Petros Psyllos, a Polish computer science student, has created a revolutionary ‘artificial eye’ for the blind. Unsurprisingly, the young inventor, with this and his other noteworthy creations, has already been making a name for himself with the likes of Microsoft.

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